Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Foster dreams of getting away, but after his father’s death, he has to take over the family dairy farm. It soon becomes clear his father hasn’t been doing the best job of running it, so not only does Foster need to take over the day-to-day operations, he also needs to find new ways of bringing in revenue.

Javi has no time to dream. He and his family are migrant workers, and daily survival is a struggle, so they travel to anywhere they can get work. When they arrive in their old van, Foster arranges for Javi to help him on the farm.

To Javi’s surprise, Foster listens to his ideas and actually puts them into action. Over days that turn into weeks, they grow to like and then care for each other, but they come from two very different worlds, and they both have responsibilities to their families that neither can walk away from. Is it possible for them to discover a dream they can share? Perhaps they can plant their own and nurture it together to see it grow, if their different backgrounds don’t separate them forever.

Book Review

Farmers lead a hard life, especially the ones with fairly small holdings. While I know this in theory, ‘Planting His Dream’, with its detailed descriptions of all the never-ending work and the constant threat from unpredictable weather catastrophes, really brought it home to me. Coupled with some fascinating characters and their struggle for survival and their hope for love, this story made for very emotional reading. Yet again Andrew Grey has managed to capture my imagination by presenting a deceptively simple situation in a light that made it interesting, revealing, and very moving. Bravo!

Foster never really wanted to be a farmer. He grew up helping his father, day in and day out, but he had big dreams of getting away and doing something else. But when his father dies unexpectedly and much too young, Foster is stuck. He doesn’t want his mother and grandmother to lose their home, and he has no other career lined up himself, so what can he do? Figuring out how to get rid of the debt his father has amassed and the daily struggle for survival that follows keep Foster occupied, and he does better than anyone expected. Meeting Javi, the oldest son of a migrant workers family, makes Foster happy and while he doesn’t quite dare dream they can be together the way they both soon want, he does irrationally hope they can find a way.

Javi has given up dreaming a long time ago. He leads a harsh life, with a father who wants to control everything, yet constantly gets drunk using the money the family needs to eat. Javi never had the opportunity to get an education, so he can’t see a way out for himself, but he feels responsible for his two younger siblings and wants to protect them as much as he can. He has never admitted to anyone that he is gay, but when he meets and starts working with Foster, the attraction is undeniable. For a few short weeks Javi learns what it is to be happy, but he can’t desert his family no matter how much he loves Foster.

Both young men in this story have dreams, and neither of them knows how to make them happen. In fact, they have pretty much given up on ever getting what they need – an emotional connection with a partner they can love and who loves them back. It sounds so simple, but in the context of a homophobic small town for Foster, and a traditional, religious family for Javi, hope quickly dies. Except this is an Andrew Grey novel, so fate finds a way to give Javi and Foster what they want. It isn’t easy – and I liked the realism of the resolution as much as the rest of the book.

If you like deceptively simple stories with a deep emotional resonance, if two young men who try to find and define their way in life make you curious, and if you’re looking for a read that is as revealing about life on a farm as it is touching, then you will probably like this novel as much as I did.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook, print and audio
Length	Novel, 200 pages/60828 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-April-2016
Price	$6.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback, $14.99 bundle, $19.95 audiobook
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/planting-his-dream-by-andrew-grey-5191-b